"Your Daily Tripod" reflects the personal Fourth Day journeys of its authors and editors. We are happy to have companions like you share in this project. Our prayer is that these reflections will invite and inspire your Fourth Day journey of Piety, Study and Action as much as writing or editing them inspires our journey and brings us all close moments with Jesus and our neighbors.

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Jesus’ State of the Union Address

“Blessed
are you who are poor, for the Kingdom of God is yours. Blessed are you who are now hungry, for you
will be satisfied. Blessed are you who
are now weeping, for you will laugh.
Blessed are you when people hate you, and when they exclude and insult
you, and denounce your name as evil on account of the Son of Man… But woe to you who are rich, for you have
received your consolation. But woe to
you who are filled now, for you will be hungry.
Woe to you who laugh now, for you will grieve and weep. Woe to you when all speak well of you, for
their ancestors treated the false prophets in this way.”

(Luke
6:20-22, 24-26)

Piety

“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring
glad tidings to the poor. He has sent me
to proclaim liberty to captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the
oppressed go free…”

(Luke 4:18)

Study

Jesus has been up on the mountain selecting the Twelve, whom he
designates Apostles. He comes down to
the plain and begins to address the crowd.
We’re told that Jews and non-Jews alike make up the throng of
people. They’re from Judea, Jerusalem,
Tyre, and Sidon. This is truly a sermon
for all the world to hear.

Jesus gives a sort of “state of the Union” address, the Union being the
Kingdom of God. Now that God, through
his Son, has taken matters in hand, here’s what the Kingdom looks like, Jesus
says. If you’re poor or hungry, weeping
or reviled because of your faith, take heart.
You are the blessed of God’s Kingdom.
That must be music to the ears of all the young, would-be immigrants on
our southern border, the Christians in Iraq, Syria, Egypt, and countless other
countries whose lives are threatened because they are believers, to the hungry
here in the U.S. and the starving throughout the world.

Here we begin to see why the Nazareth folk didn’t exactly take to Jesus’
preaching. It turns our most cherished
notions upside down. It makes us
uncomfortable. This is hardly the
worldview we grow up with. From kindergarten
on we work to get into good colleges, so we can major in something that pays
well, in order to then fill ourselves with all the good things we see in
advertisements and mall windows. And
what’s wrong with having a good time, we ask?
Aren’t our self-esteems stroked from the moment we begin to toddle around
so that we will feel good about ourselves, enjoy life, and have a good laugh
now and then? Who doesn’t want to have
people think highly of us? Much of what
we do is driven by our desire to be popular and have friends. Compared to many people in the rest of the
world listening to Jesus’ words, we have so much. Yet, we’re seldom satisfied. We aren’t grateful for what’s been given to
us. We never feel like we have
enough. We’re always looking for
more. Our blindness to all that we have,
our lack of compassion for those who are in need, and our overall ingratitude
put us on the outs with relation to the Kingdom of God.

Jesus doesn’t mince words. He is
uncompromising in his assertion that this is the way it is in God’s
Kingdom. Everything is turned upside
down.

Action

Spend some time today thanking God for the many
gifts you have received. Gratitude leads
to compassion, which leads to sharing with others. Here are two opportunities
for giving: If you would like to aid in alleviating
the human suffering in Iraq, Catholic Relief Services has joined with Caritas
Iraq in offering humanitarian aid. Click on
http://crs.org/ to find out how you can
help. Here at home, SOME (So Others
Might Eat) is an organization that feeds the hungry in Washington, DC. See http://some.org/ to find out how you can help.